Teenaged Olympic athlete Douglas to publish second memoir

March 12, 2013|Reuters

NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) - Olympic gold medalistGabrielle Douglas, not yet 18, will publish her second memoirnext month, publisher Zondervan said on Tuesday.

Douglas, 17, a gold medal winner at the 2012 Summer Olympicsin both team and individual all-around gymnastics competition,will publish "Raising the Bar", a follow-up to her 2012best-selling memoir "Grace, Gold & Glory: My Leap of Faith", onApril 30, the publishers said in a release.

Zondervan is a division of HarperCollins that specializes inChristian-oriented books.

The book will offer a behind-the-scenes look into Douglas'life, including color photos, personal stories and details onthe athlete's present-day life - from walking red carpets andappearing on TV shows such as "The Vampire Diaries" while alsomaking time for friends, family and training.

"'Raising the Bar' explores what it's like to be an everydayteen with a not-so-everyday life," Zondervan said.

Douglas, who began training at age 6 and became the VirginiaState Champion just 2 years later, made history last year whenshe became the first U.S. gymnast to take home a team and anindividual gold medal in the same games. She was firstAfrican-American to win the individual gold.

Since the 2012 London Olympics thrust the young gymnast intothe public eye, Douglas has appeared at the Democratic NationalConvention, the MTV Video Awards, on the cover of Time magazineand on special edition boxes of corn flake cereal, along withher gold medal.